A storage area management method for a data storage apparatus partitions an acquired storage area into storage areas with differing power-of-2 sizes and manages each of them. Also, a storage area allocation method receives an allocation request for a storage area that includes a requested allocation size, and acquires an available storage area whose size is the smallest power-of-2 size encompassing the requested allocation size, and obtains a binary expression of the requested allocation size, and in response to the received allocation request, allocates a contiguous storage area comprised of storage areas each of whose size is a power of 2 of a value of a bit position wherein a 1 is set in the binary expression.